I've had a 20g freshwater aquarium set up for almost 3 years now. I had a betta that was already about 1.5 years old when I purchased him in the aquarium along with 3 ghost shrimp, 2 ADFs, and 4 albino cory cats. In late February, I had to move my aquarium to a friend's house while my home was treated for bed bugs. I brought it back home on the 1st of May.
My friend had obviously been neglecting the tank, and I cleaned as much as I could without killing off the cycled bacteria. I got the ammonia down to safe levels in the first week. My betta, however, had developed fin rot during his stay with my friend. He kept getting slowly worse, even with weekly water changes, and eventually, medication.
He died 3 weeks ago just as I was preparing to euthanize him because his condition had gotten so severe. My dwarf frogs and other pets have remained just as active and seemingly healthy as ever. I check all of the water parameters with every other water change, and they stay pretty consistent. This morning, both of my frogs were swimming around as usual. When I came back from lunch, my female was laying on her back at the bottom of the aquarium. I thought she was just being her normal goofy self until I saw one of the shrimp trying to take a bite out of her while she never reacted. I picked her up and noticed she had become limp and passed on.
What could be causing these deaths?
Here are my parameters:
Size: 20g cycled
Temp: 76 degrees F
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.15
Substrate: Gravel
Decorations: Live and silk plants
Lighting: LEDs turned on for 5-7 hours daily
My friend had obviously been neglecting the tank, and I cleaned as much as I could without killing off the cycled bacteria. I got the ammonia down to safe levels in the first week. My betta, however, had developed fin rot during his stay with my friend. He kept getting slowly worse, even with weekly water changes, and eventually, medication.
He died 3 weeks ago just as I was preparing to euthanize him because his condition had gotten so severe. My dwarf frogs and other pets have remained just as active and seemingly healthy as ever. I check all of the water parameters with every other water change, and they stay pretty consistent. This morning, both of my frogs were swimming around as usual. When I came back from lunch, my female was laying on her back at the bottom of the aquarium. I thought she was just being her normal goofy self until I saw one of the shrimp trying to take a bite out of her while she never reacted. I picked her up and noticed she had become limp and passed on.
What could be causing these deaths?
Here are my parameters:
Size: 20g cycled
Temp: 76 degrees F
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.15
Substrate: Gravel
Decorations: Live and silk plants
Lighting: LEDs turned on for 5-7 hours daily
